#Earthschooling365: Day Forty-Seven
Inner Work Meditation (Heart): Today as I was on the nature walk I focused on the beauty of all the plants around me. Bushes, flowers, grasses and trees look so beautiful in the spring as they are just emerging. I love talking a walk on the trail because I get to see so many varieties and they are all beautiful in their own way. But as I walk the block to the trail from my home I don’t see any of this natural beauty. I see only green lawns and perfectly groomed trees. For some reason we have deemed some plants “worthy” and others not. Some plants have been labelled “weeds” and others have been labelled as “good” plants. Today, take some time to meditate on how we also do this to the people in our lives. It does not matter if you are at work, school or home. In each area there are personalities and behaviors that are considered “weed-like” and others that are allowed to bloom. However, I have noticed many times in the past that many of these weeds are not as bad as their label suggests. Who or what are you giving “weed” labels to in your life and why? Do they really deserve to be labelled in that manner? Is there a different way you could look at the person/situation?
Nature Walk Idea (Head): Today we will be celebrating weeds! Notice the difference between the “wild” path you walk on and the “groomed” paths at the park or near your home. What differences do you see? Why are their dandelions in some areas but not in others? What plants do you consider most beautiful and why? Why do you think some plants have been deemed “unworthy” and others are cultivated? Take some time today to celebrate the “weeds” on your walk by picking and creating a beautiful bouquet of dandelions, violets and other wildflowers. Alternately, you could take pictures of them, draw pictures of them or simply sit with them for five minutes each and say “thank you”.
If you want to learn more about the uses of some of these “weeds” and how they are important take a look at our Herbs for Kids Class or Herbs for Kids: Herbal Creations or Herbs for Kids: Herbal Identification.
Photography Notes (Hands): Starting today we are going to be taking our work with aperture into the practical and practice realm. The best way to learn about aperture is to continue being aware of it as you take your photos. We will spend some time over the next week cultivating that awareness with some questions, assignments and examples. Our question for today is: Was today’s photo taken with a high aperture or low aperture? How do you know? What does this mean? Was there a lot of light let into the lens or less light? Since it was a bright and sunny day how do you think the photographer achieved this?
Your assignment is then to take a similar photo of a plant, flower, bush or tree on your own nature walk today.
ANSWERS: This photo was taken with a low aperture. As you notice the area of focus is very small. It is not a very large plant and yet only part of the branch is in focus. This means that more light was let into the lens as the photo was taken. This may seem strange for such a sunny day but the photo was actually taken with a longer lens (which cuts down on the light coming into the camera and requires compromise and also creates it own contribution to the depth-of-field). The day was also not as sunny as it appears. The sun was lower in the sky and so it was darker than it would be during noon time. I also used the lowest ISO possible (100).
Verse: Is She Really a Weed?
Copyright Kristie Burns
They said she was an undesireable weed
Scholars poured poison on her root and seed
The gardner tried to cut her out
The custodian banished her with a shout
But all she did
Was pop up once in an
Inappropriate place
With the other dandelions
To play in the meadow
They called her intruder, invader, simply wrong
Ignoring the beauty of soft yellow song
The dedication it took to grow so strong
On a cultivated lawn of green turf so long
They pulled, they tugged, they wrenched and drug
Her name and spirit through the garden mud
They thought she had gone, deserted and fled
The bright yellow patch in the meadow dead
But something so beautiful, passionate and free
Does not just vanish so easily
For a dandelion has other names of truth
Rusty oracle, hawk-bits and lion’s tooth
So her white parachute of a seed floated afar
Surrounded by others she was like a white star
Among millions discovered she was far from alone
Carried by the wind to a loving new home
To those that would insult the Dente de Leon
Remember the folklore says that she will carry on
Forced to carry your thoughts – cruel or kind
To the next rooting place she will certainly find
*These poems have been created for many purposes – from early childhood circle time verses to inspirational or expressive. They vary from day to day so you may find the way you use them or enjoy them also varies. If you would like to set these poems to music consider our tutorial: Creating Your Ow Waldorf Verses or Finding Your Inner Voice.
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What is #Earthschooling365?
This series takes you through an entire year of our nature walks and is part of our non-profit project #Earthschooling365 at www.Earthschooling.org. The photos and posts in this series are all copyrighted. Please do not share or re-print them. Instead, share the link to this blog with your friends.
Along the way I will be sharing our favorite photo of the day, an inner work meditation for the day, photography assignment/tip for the day, nature walk theme for the day and a short verse for circle time (children) or meditation (teens/adults). We invite you to “walk along with us” this year, take some time to use the inner work meditation, be inspired by the nature walk theme of the day and perhaps even start a photo series of your own. To join the community on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram please tag your photos #Earthschooling365. To receive these inspirations in your e-mail inbox daily please subscribe to our blog alerts HERE. Don’t worry about missing days – you can join us as many days as you want this year!
Every day we will post one day. We will leave up 2 weeks of nature walks at a time. At the end of two weeks each nature walk will be transferred to the Lifetime Member’s Only Blog and will be accessible only to Lifetime Earthschooling Members. If you want to own the entire series without enrolling a an Earthschooling Lifetime Package Member you can purchase the entire series for only $35.00 (for the entire year!)
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